228 THE ARCHDUKE WORTHY OF HIS LINEAGE. [A.D. however, still held out; for St. Hilaire, by a sudden effort, had again wrested it from the Austrians. Napoleon began to tire of the contest in this coupe-gorge, but a report came in from Davoust that he had passed his corps to the main land, and that Demont was in the act of crossing the bridge out of the island. With eagle eye he discovered, about 7 o'clock, that the centre of the Austrian line occupied ground too extensive, as he thought, for its numbers, and gave orders to Lannes to march against it. He placed at his disposal 20,000 foot and 6,000 horse, and, having given the signal, the division St. Hilaire, having on its sides the divisions Clarapède and Tharreau, and farther on the flanks the whole of the cavalry, were put in motion. The division Oudinot came up in second line, and, as they thus went gaily forward, "selon l'ordre profond les unes en carrées et les autres en colonnes." Hohenzollern retreated before Lannes, and fell back on the support of the Prince of Reuss at Breitenlee. The Austrian artillery poured its fire upon the advancing mass as it approached, and caused terrible openings in the French column, so that the Emperor ordered Oudinot to deploy, and sent orders to St. Hilaire to do likewise. The Archduke, seeing his centre menaced, flew to the retiring division of Hohenzollern, re-formed their lines, sent forward the Imperial cavalry, replaced the guns in position, when, seizing the flag of Zach's regiment, he showed himself the worthy descendant of his ancient line by leading them in person against the enemy. General Count Colloredo was struck in the head with a round shot and brought to the ground. Several of his staff were likewise knocked over. The Prince's example was, however, emulated by the generals, and, reanimated by the stirring scene, the soldiers followed their chiefs, or stood firm; the further irruption of Lannes's column was stopped, and Savary, himself an eye witness, says, " Dès lors il fut facile de prevoir que la journée ne pouvait avoir une issue heureuse." At this critical moment Hohenzollern, perceiving an opening occasioned by the unequal advance of some of the regiments forming the French column, ordered forward Traluk's regiment; and the Archduke, seeing the importance of the movement, supported it by six regiments of Hungarian grenadiers. These fresh troops went boldly forward until they were stopped by the batteries in front of Essling. The Austrian batteries however were near, and soon came up, and began to open at musket-distance. It was seen that Lannes's column could not stand against this force, for the Austrians so pressed on General St. Hilaire that he had the utmost difficulty in stopping them, and, in the struggle, this veteran of the army of Italy fell mortally wounded from a shell. The Marshal immediately took the command of the division, and, uniting it with Oudinot, brought back the column. The extreme narrowness of the position massed the French troops so that they could not deploy; and, to endeavour to overcome this disadvantage, the cuirassiers were sent forward. The steady battalions of Austria formed square, and though the cavalry charged up to the points of the bayonets, not one square was broken, until the assailants were met by the Austrian 1809.] AFFECTING DEATH OF MARSHAL LANNES. 229 horse, and driven back upon the French infantry. The Austrians now carried Essling in spite of Boudet's exertions. The French position was at this period of the day, seriously menaced, when General Mouton placed himself at the head of the Fuzileers, and for the moment reobtained possession of the village, though he also here received a severe wound, which obliged him to quit the field Since mid-day the supply of ammunition had begun to fall short in the French army, and about half-past 8 was exhausted. At this critical hour M. de Mortemart arrived on the field, eagerly seeking the Emperor, who was giving his orders from a spot called the tile-yard, between Aspern and Essling. The information he brought was of most serious importance: the utter destruction of the great bridge by the stone-ships and other masses floated down upon it by the enemy, and consequent interruption of the passage of troops and stores, and of all further communication with the mainland. Napoleon saw instantly that the effect of this would be to deprive him altogether of his ammunition, and, as he did not deem it prudent to trust wholly to the bayonet and sabre to reverse the fortunes of the day, he at once ordered the troops to retire gradually across the pontoon bridge into the island of Lob-Awe. The Austrians perceiving symptoms of vacillation, and that something had gone wrong with the French, resumed the offensive at all points, and pouring in an incessant fire of grape and round-shot upon the enemy's columns, massed their forces on the roads leading down to the tête de pont. Anxious to crown the victory by a decisive movement, the Archduke brought forward his reserve of Hungarian grenadiers, and placing himself at their head, advanced against the French, supported by the awful fire of the whole Austrian artillery. The French Generals, with their troops utterly exhausted, saw fresh assailants springing, as it were, out of the earth. Massena and Lannes remained at their post animating their troops by their presence, and by their heroic bearing. A close combat of fire-arms now ensued. An officer of Lannes's staff, seeing the Marshal especially exposed in this mêlée, by being on horseback, urged him to descend, and just as he did so a round-shot struck him, and broke both his knees. The Emperor was about to quit the field and cross the bridge, to take care that it was kept clear for the retreating army, when this fearful accident was reported to him; and presently the litter, on which was borne the bleeding veteran wrapped in a military cloak, came near him. He immediately approached it and embraced his dying friend, who, in a feeble voice, addressing the comrade of so many dangers, said: "Adieu, Sire! vous allez perdre celui qui faut votre meilleur ami, et votre fidèle compagnon d'armes; vivez pour tous, et accordez quelque souvenir à un de vos meilleurs amis qui dans deux heures n'existera plus." The Emperor, overwhelmed with grief even to tears, pressed the hand of the sinking hero, and passed on to the bridge. Marshal Bessières then approached, and warmly pressed the hand of Lannes, in remembrance of their recent difference. Massena also was seen to approach him, with his eyes red with grief. But it was not a moment for sentiment, or the whole 230 THE FRENCH WITHDRAW INTO LOB-AWE. [A.D. army would have shed tears on the highly honoured head of Marshal Lannes ! 24. THE FRENCH ARMY RETIRE INTO THE ISLAND OF LOB-AWE. Massena yet continued in possession of the village of Aspern, and resolved to do so, when he was summoned by the Emperor, together with Bessières, Berthier, and other chiefs of corps, who passed over the bridge into the island, assembled around Napoleon, who had here fixed his head-quarters beneath a tree, where he, under the very serious circumstances in which the army was now placed, called them in to council. These famous and brave commanders unanimously expressed to their chief their opinion that it was necessary to retire the army without loss of time, and even at the risk of the loss of their cannon and their wounded, to the right bank of the Danube, and even to evacuate the island of Lob- Awe. With great apparent deference, the Emperor silently listened to these coinciding opinions, when, with the authority which belonged to his station, and the wonderful resolution that, at all times and under all adversities, sustained his spirit, he thus addressed them: "Mais, messieurs, c'est comme si vous me donniez le conseil d'aller à Strasbourg. If I pass to the other bank of the river, I shall be obliged to evacuate Vienna, and I must then soon be driven back even to the Rhine. No: I must remain in the island of Lob-Awe. We shall soon restore our broken communications, for we have still immense resources. We will not abandon our wounded; they will recover and be restored to our ranks before the expiration of a month, and, in a few days, Eugène will come to us out of Italy, and Lefebvre out of the Tyrol." Then, turning to Massena, he said: "Massena! tu achèveras ce que tu as si glorieusement commencé; tu peux seul rester ici, et en imposer à l'archiduc pour le retenir immobile devant toi le peu de jours qui nous sont nécessaires." Transported with the cordiality of Napoleon's address, Massena replied: “Vous êtes, Sire, un homme de cœur et digne de nous commander! Non! il ne faut pas fuir comme des lâches qui auraient été vaincus; ne perdons-nous notre attitude de vainqueurs, bornons-nous à répasser le petit bras du Danube et je vous jure d'y noyer tout Autrichien que voudroit le franchir en notre face." Davoust, who was also at the council, promised to guard Vienna from all assaults, either from the side of Presburg or Krems. After the conference, Napoleon, attended by Savary and Berthier, withdrew across the Danube to re-establish the head-quarters at Ebersdorf, leaving to Massena the command of the army in the island of Lob-Awe; but, before he lay down to rest, he issued orders to employ every boat on the river to carry up biscuits, meat, and brandy to his companions in arms, who had so gloriously struggled through this terrible day. The French entirely withdrew from Aspern and Essling before day broke on the 23rd, but no offensive operations were attempted against them in the night by the Austrians, who appeared to be too 1809.] MILITARY CHARACTER OF LANNES. 231 much overcome by fatigue to trouble themselves any further about their adversaries. The victors lost in the battle, according to their own accounts, 4,286 killed, and 16,326 wounded; and the French, according to theirs, 1,100 killed, and 3,000 wounded. It is, however, idle to accept such statements, for the conflict both at Essling and Aspern was no doubt most sanguinary on both sides. Whatever may be the opinion of strategists as to Napoleon's advance with a rapid river in his rear, spanned but by one single bridge, there can be no doubt but that the Archduke Charles, if he had shown a tythe of his former energy, would not have lain down to rest this night, until he had got possession of the pontoon bridge, and then at least a third of the French army must have capitulated. While Napoleon, with the energy of his character, was collecting timber and workmen, and striving to repair the broken bridge, and to build many more, the promised battalion of 1,200 sailors arrived in the camp from Antwerp. They were immediately placed under the orders of the Engineers, and the great boats, laden with heavy stones, which had done so much mischief, were at once emptied, careened, and made ready for other work; while rafts and small boats to be propelled by oars, were organised in order to prevent the descent of any more masses by the stream. The bridge was now re-constructed by Bertrand, upon piles, across the main arm of the river, and smaller bridges were directed to be prepared, so that the army should not again be exposed to the fearful contingency it had just escaped. These were so bound together that they could be floated to any spot, and then firmly fastened to one shore be carried across by the action of the stream, and readily secured to the other. The Emperor's attention was immediately given to the reorganisation of the army in every department. The well-being of the individual soldier under arms was specially looked to, and the additional reinforcements which had been some time on their march from every side of Germany were called up. The day after the French army had withdrawn into Lob- Awe, the Austrians wasted a great number of shot upon the island; but the Emperor would not permit any response to be made to this useless taunt, and, accordingly, it soon ceased. He named General La Reboissière to be chief of all the batteries, ordering them to be thoroughly overhauled; and, as there was a want of gunners with the army, he directed an appropriation of three or four guns to each regiment, which might be served by the most intelligent men of the corps; and in this way 200 small guns were attached to the regimental force. He now also increased the artillery of the Guard to 84 pieces; and by these means the whole artillery of the army was increased in a short time to 700 pieces of cannon. 25. MILITARY CHARACTER OF MARSHAL LANnes, Duc de MONTEBELLO. Jean Lannes was born at Lestoure in 1769, entered the Revolutionary army as a volunteer in 1792, and became Colonel in 1795. He first distinguished himself under Bonaparte in his Italian 232 THE FRENCH PURSUE THE ARCHDUKE JOHN. [A.D. campaigns. He accompanied his chief to Egypt, and cemented his friendship with him at the Battle of Aboukir. Napoleon, soon after his election to the throne, made him a Marshal of France, and gave him the title of Duc de Montebello and he has since left on record this opinion of him, in his conversation with Montholon at St. Helena: "Lannes was wise, prudent, and withal, audacious, gifted with inperturbable sang froid in presence of the enemy. He had received little education, so that all his qualities were derived from Nature." He was still young when he first attained to the command of an independent army of 25,000 men. He did not understand the art of strategy, but was superior to most of his colleagues on the field of battle. His remains are deposited in the Pantheon at the church of St. Geneviève at Paris. 26. THE VICEROY OF ITALY JOINS THE GRAND ARMY.- The effect of Marshal Lefebvre's operations in the Tyrolean Alps was to drive Chastelan and Jellalich to unite with the Archduke John. The Prince having found it impossible to reach Bohemia, turned aside towards Hungary. The Viceroy, in his march through the passes of the mountains, heard that the division of Jellalich was in march from Leoben or San Michele, and General Grenier was sent to occupy this post. Jellalich, on his arrival, was astonished at this sudden apparition of a French force in his front, but, nevertheless, took up a good position, and prepared to receive an attack. The Viceroy came up on the 25th with Grenier's infantry and a brigade of cavalry under Sahuc, and, after a slight resistance, the Austrians were soon overcome- scattered in every direction, leaving 800 killed, 1,200 wounded, and 5,000 prisoners. Jellalich himself only escaped with difficulty, with an escort of some 40 dragoons. On the 28th Macdonald's column arrived at Gratz, where he found the Archduke John had left a garrison, and had retreated on the same day with 12,000 men, upon the Raab, by Furstenfeld. The corps of Marshal Marmont was expected to unite with the army of Italy at this point; the Viceroy, therefore, leaving Macdonald at Gratz, pursued his progress to Vienna, where he arrived on the 31st, on which day Marmont and Macdonald effected their junction. Napoleon, on hearing this state of affairs from Eugène, immediately directed these united forces to march onward in pursuit of the Archduke John. Napoleon's instructions to the Viceroy entered into the most minute details, and were, like all his arrangements, a model for military study. He showed him that the part he expected him to play was to oblige the Archduke John to keep his distance from Vienna; that he must force him as far down the Danube as possible, so that every endeavour to cross that river, to unite with his brother, the Generalissimo, should be by the widest circle. He suggested the river Raab as the position to be occupied by the Viceroy's united divisions, and that Komoru at |